0:00 Intro

Welcome to another GThentic review, today we’re taking a look at Apple’s M1 Max MacBook Pro with 24 core GPU (graphics card), 10 core CPU (central processing unit), and 32 GB of unified RAM (memory).

00:19 Unboxing

Inside the box we have the MacBook Pro; the pouch with the paperwork, which now includes Apple’s Pro stickers (the black Apple stickers); and the 140 watts (W) MagSafe 3 charger which now comes with a braided cable.

The laptop features a polished Apple logo on the lid and the words “MacBook Pro” embossed on the underside of the chassis (removed from the screen due to smaller bezels).

1:23 Ports

On the previous generation 15″ MacBook Pro, there were 4 USB 3.1/Thunderbolt 3 ports and a headphone jack. On this new laptop are 3 USB 4/Thunderbolt 4 ports along with a high impedance headphone jack, a SD card reader, a HDMI 2.0 port, and a MagSafe 3 charging port which is capable of up to 140W fast charging.

1:50 First Boot

On first boot, you’re greeted with that beautiful Liquid Retina XDR (Extreme Dynamic Range) display. The screen on this M1 Max MacBook Pro is just simply amazing. The screen resolution is approximately 3.5K with a notch at the top housing the new 1080p webcam.

2:18 Vs 2018 15″ MBP

Placed next to the previous generation 2018 15″ MacBook Pro, you can see differences in the screen size and height of the laptop. The laptop is slightly taller and the bezels around the screen are much thinner. The keyboards are similarly sized, except for the full-sized function row at the top of the keyboard on the new Mac. Additionally, the keys on the new M1 Max MacBook Pro are all black with no metal color showing between the keys.

The screen also looks way sharper, all the icons appear sharper and text on the new display is very sharp and clean.

Now that I’ve had and used this laptop for a while, here are my thoughts about the new M1 Max MacBook Pro.

3:14 Fan Noise (lack of)

One of the first things I noticed was the lack of fan noise. I accustomed to just opening the lid of my previous laptop and hearing the fans go off for simple tasks such as browsing certain websites or doing a Zoom meeting or even just opening apps such as Final Cut Pro. However, on this new Mac, I haven’t heard the fans go off even once; even while playing games such as X-Plane 11.

3:49 Battery Life

The next big take-away for me is the incredible battery life I’ve been getting. On my previous computer I would get 3-4 hours of battery life under light usage conditions. With this new Mac I’m getting over 11 hours of battery life while on video calls using Zoom, Blackboard Collab, Citrix, WebEx etc. On a typical day I will get about 10-14 hours of mixed usage which includes working on documents and spreadsheets, browsing the web, playing videos etc. Under heavier workloads such as playing graphically intensive games or video editing in Final Cut Pro, I usually get anywhere from 3-7 hours of battery life.

4:36 Screen

The screen on this laptop is just awesome. It’s a HDR capable display with up to 1600 nits of peak brightness. The screen gets very bright when playing back HDR content. Its a very bright, vibrant and sharp display at 3.5K resolution with very rich colors.

5:09 Speakers

The speakers are very good and have significantly more bass than my previous Mac. The bass is maximum at about 50% volume and then it starts to fall off. It also supports playback of Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos content. When supported content is played on this system it is very nice.

5:53 Audio Sample

6:47 Webcam

The webcam has been upgraded from 720p to 1080p with a new Image Signal Processor which makes your face pop even more when doing video calls.

7:05 Keyboard

The keyboard is also improved with better key travel and it’s a lot more comfortable for long typing sessions.

7:15 Charging

Like the previous Apple chargers, this new charger also features a USB-C port and a removable chord. This means that you can use MagSafe with a smaller charger if you wish to carry something more portable or you can use the included charger with a USB-C cable if you have multiple devices to charge but only want to bring one cable. This is possible as you can still charge up to 100W through any of the 3 USB-C ports.

The strength of the MagSafe cable and connector has been improved significantly. The connector no longer falls out easily and can actually move the laptop of pulled horizontally away from the port. However, the MagSafe cable will separate easily from most vertical movement. Also note that MagSafe 3 is the only way to charge at speeds greater than 100W.

8:07 TouchID

TouchID is very easy to setup and is very fast. With a single tap of the TouchID sensor you’re logged in.

8:19 Touch Bar

The Touch Bar from the previous generation keyboard is gone and was replaced by a full-sized row of function keys. The function keys contain shortcuts to commonly used settings such as volume, brightness, playback controls, spotlight search, Siri, and Do Not Disturb.

8:32 TrackPad

The trackpad is very large and comfortable to use, which makes it easy to do multi-finger gestures. It’s the same size as the Magic Trackpad sold by Apple.

8:48 Booting/Waking

Booting or waking the computer from sleep is very fast. Like mind-bogglingly fast!

8:58 Find My Integration

The Apple Silicon transition has enabled additional features for this laptop such as being able to play sounds using the FindMy App even when the lid is closed. It’s like having an AirTag built-into your laptop as not only are you able to play sounds, but you also get notifications on your iPhone if you get separated from your laptop. Plus it will ping off the FindMy network if placed in lost mode even if shutdown. This could be useful if you left your laptop in a coffee shop for example.

9:45 Performance

Performance has been amazing. I can play X-PLANE 11 at max graphics settings with no slowdowns or fan noise while on battery power. This is of course not even maxing out the graphics or CPU. The same applies for editing videos. Spreadsheets, word processing etc are handled easily.

10:21 Slowdown

The only time I notice any slowdown is when I’m using external drives which aren’t fast enough to provide data to the laptop as fast as it can process it.

10:36 Outro

So that’s my first look at the 2021 M1 Max MacBook Pro with 10 core CPU, 24 core GPU and 32 GB unified memory. If you like this video, like and subscribe share it with your friends. Thanks for watching another GThentic review. See you in the next one.